


tears lost in the rain

by cjayne



Category: Detroit Evolution - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Asexual Upgraded Connor | RK900, Detroit Evolution Artfest (Detroit: Become Human), Fluff, M/M, Not Beta Read, Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, Post-Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, Vacation, are androids even in europe?, englands so damn rainy, gavin's just happy to be with nines, i didnt even mean for that lol, lady robot superman but bad, sorry if its inaccurate, swearing because its gavin, they are now i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26122780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjayne/pseuds/cjayne
Summary: gavin and nines go on holiday to the uk and it rainstitle from isohel by eden
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	1. gavin reed didn't go on holidays

**Author's Note:**

> started writing this when it was raining. surprise, surprise!
> 
> also realised that this technically fits into the vacation au of de artfest so thats a thing

Gavin Reed didn't go on holidays. It just didn't happen.

All he had known for the past however-many years was work. Wake up, shower, coffee, work (+ coffee), get back, stroke cat, sleep, repeat.

He was known for being the earliest arrival at the DPD and the latest departure, although since he and Nines teamed up they'd gone home earlier as they often literally completed all the cases available.

Even after they had dealt with 'Lady Robot Superman But Bad' as Chris Miller (a fellow police officer and good friend of theirs) referred to Ada as, they took barely two days off. And they took them off separately from each other. Most of that time was spent contemplating whether two cats was enough, on Gavin's part, and rebuilding a section of his mind, on Nines' part. Two cats wasn't enough.

Regardless, Gavin had clocked up over 3 months worth of unused annual leave in his time in the police force, and he hadn't had a care in the world to use any of it.

But after all that time, he had something else, _someone_ else. And that someone else was constantly prying at Gavin to give himself a rest.

"Seriously Gav. You need it. The bags under your eyes may be tall and dark like me, but they're nowhere near as handsome." Gavin stifled a chuckle. Nines' LED was spinning yellow, so either he had searched that joke up on the internet, or he was worried.

Probably both.

Nines was sitting at the little grey table set up in Gavin's- _their_ \- kitchen. In _their_ apartment. He was still getting used to the domesticity of it all, even after a few months of it being reality. Anyway, Nines was sitting at the little grey table set up in their kitchen, with one hand holding a glass of thirium and one hand drumming on the edge of the table. Gavin pulled up a chair and sat down across from him.

"Look, tin can, maybe I do need it. But I don't wanna ruin it by thinking about work all the time. You know I can't take my mind off it." He stared at the blue liquid in the glass Nines was swirling around, all too aware of the android's eyes penetrating his skin in a fashion not meant to burn but doing so anyway.

"There's more than life to work," Nines said, and then weakly, "isn't there?"

Gavin let out a sigh that would've released the tension in his body if it wasn't for the knots being tied in his stomach and heart and throat.

"I- I think so."

"So would you like to see?" Nines' hand left the glass and cupped Gavin's jaw. Gavin nodded meekly and met his partner's eyes.

"Yeah. But there's no way in hell I'm going to one of those fancy islands of anything." He took Nines' hand from his face and rested it on the table, laughing- half nervously, half meaningfully, half Nines-I'm-only-doing-this-for-you-ly.

"Of course. Where do you want to go, Gavin?"

Gavin obviously hadn't planned for this question. It wasn't like he spent his spare time browsing the 'top 5 cheapest, best beach resorts' as Tina had been telling him about the other day. He preferred to lie on the sofa and get trapped by any (or all) or his 3 cats- and occasionally Nines (Cyberlife's greatest android was surprisingly light).

Nines clearly took the contemplative look on Gavin's face as an 'I don't have a goddamn clue'. 

"Gavin."

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever been on holiday?"

Huh. Good question. Gavin hadn't had the.. easiest youth, dropping out of school to be in a gang- once that fell through he joined the police. There was no grey area, just one day doing illegal shit and the next trying to stop said illegal shit.

"Um.. well I guess I went on trips at school. Before I.."

"Day trips?" _God_ Nines was so good at not poking at Gavin's old wounds.

"Yeah. I mean once we went to some nature reserve or some shit out of state, but the only thing I remember from that is Tina stepping in a huge puddle."

Tina Chen wasn't the tallest of people now. Nines couldn't even fathom what she would've looked like as a child.

"It was all muddy water- probably had some animal shit in it too- and she just walked into it. Guess she was looking at something else, but one moment she was fine and the next she was half-drenched in a puddle. It was hilarious!"

It certainly sounded hilarious, especially from the amount of times Gavin tried to stop laughing, only to begin again for double the amount of time. A beaming smile shone across Nines' face.

"We don't have to go anywhere special. I just want to be with you." 

"Me too, Nines."

\---

And so, after hours of using Nines' internal Google instead of browsing through Gavin’s phone for absolutely no reason, they had made a decision. They were going to head to Cornwall, in England. They'd immediately veered away from the idea of a roadtrip, as Gavin could barely take care of himself when in their fully fleshed out apartment, let alone a campervan. A beach resort in the UK gave them the beach experience, but without the sunburn or millionaires. They'd picked out a small cottage in one of the nearby towns (after checking that there was a reliable taxi service) and had booked it for 2 weeks. Whether they found enough things to keep them occupied for a fortnight was uncertain, but since they were travelling all that way they may as well make the most out of it. Gavin was pretty nervous about the flight, but if they could make androids as good as Nines, they'd be able to make a plane that doesn't dive-bomb in the ocean. He hoped. He resolved to squeeze Nines' hand as tight as possible for the whole flight.

The simple fact that Nines was an android was an issue. Since the revolution, some androids had moved abroad and the news had spread internationally, so people were no doubt going to know that what Nines was once they saw the shine of his LED. Since their 'meeting' with Ada, it had become apparent that Nines was possibly the only android with his LED still in. 

"You could always wear a hat or something if you wanna," Gavin shrugged, turning around to his wardrobe.

"I'll look like a.."

"A right dipshit? Well I seem to already love you, I'm sure it won't make a difference."

Several baseball caps and beanies flew at Nines, who grabbed them out of the air before they could hit his face. Gavin stared, mouth agape.

"Okay that's fuckin' cool."

Before Nines try any of the accessories on, everything from jumpers to jeans were being flung at him. After the third identical black shirt he gave up trying to pluck them out of the air and accepted defeat, allowing himself to be buried under a mountain of clothes. Gavin hadn't been watching, so he only noticed once their _entire_ wardrobe was piled on Nines.

"Oh my god Nines.." Gavin burst out into laughter whilst digging his way through the clothes until he found Nines' grinning face. Gavin couldn't resist the urge to kiss him, but it only lasted a few seconds until Nines pushed his partner off him.

"Well that messed up the wardrobe a bit, didn't it?"

"Eh, at least we can see all the shit at once now."

"Was that an offer to pack your suitcase, Gavin?"

"Hey.. fuck you. I'll do it now I guess. But only if you'll help me pack it all in. I suck at Tetris."

A quick search told Nines that people often referred to packing their suitcases like a game of Tetris, a video game that came out in 1984- and although Gavin was born in 2002, it wasn't unlikely that he had played the game. Nines decided that he'd challenge Gavin to a game once they were on holiday.


	2. gavin reed wants to enjoy his holiday

Travelling wasn’t too bad- or at least by Gavin’s standards. And by that, I mean that there were many coffee shops and Nines was too busy actually looking where they were supposed to be going to stop his partner drinking coffee. Although if Nines had been more aware, it would’ve stopped the ‘godawful’ headache Gavin got once they were on the plane.

“Gavin,” Nines said with a slightly worried glance, “this website says that drinking coffee pre-flight can cause nausea, heartburn and headaches.”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” He waved the concern in Nines’ voice away with a waft of his own arrogance.

“You know that’s impossible."

“Okay, maybe I’ll be more careful next time. Not sure you want me falling asleep mid-flight though.” _Pff. Like either of those are true._

“I would want nothing more.” _There we go_.

“Fuckin’ charming!” Gavin tried to snap back in a serious manner, but nothing could stop the smile forming on his face.

“Love you too.”

They squeezed each other’s hands, which were resting on Nines’ legs. He was wearing black jeans and a burgundy turtleneck- and although his usual get-up of a black button-up, black trousers and white leather jacket was nice, the more casual look worked well. The button-up was, of course, packed, but only because Nines was built to destroy and Gavin wasn't quite ready to be crushed to his death by his robot boyfriend over a shirt. To solve the ‘issue’ of his LED, he wore a black beanie which Gavin found in the police lost-and-found box. Nines protested (obviously) but when Gavin said he looked ‘cute as all hell’ with those soft eyes of his, that shut him up like a puppy who’d been given snacks and a new toy.

Gavin, like Nines, had gone for a bit of a different look. He wore a grey t-shirt which was decorated with an old band logo, and dark blue jeans. It was much more of a ‘dad’ look than he’d initially imagined, but his classic jacket made sure it was a ‘Gavin’ outfit. He’d also picked out the jacket because he felt safe in it. His mother had given it to him only a few days before she passed away- when he was 16- and it was pretty much the only thing of ‘sentimental value’ he had. Fairly often he’d bury his hands in his pockets when he couldn’t reach out to Nines, and his hood could help him go a bit more ‘undercover’. He wasn’t planning on needing to go on the down low, but we’re talking about the ever-paranoid Gavin Reed here. Who almost got away without a break from work because he was too focused on said work. Whose late nights out had recently consisted of sitting in a parking lot looking out for 'unusual activity' (great fun) and going to a nightclub full of suspected murderers (even more fun). Both were exhilarating, and made more enjoyable with Nines by his side, but neither were the same as watching an old film with Nines or a night at the bar with Tina. However, all of those were in his comfort zone; things he'd done a million times before. Going to the UK on a plane with his boyfriend? If the Earth was his comfort zone, he'd be near about Pluto by now.

Nines had booked them onto a train that took them from London (where their plane landed) to Cornwall, a trip that was due to last 5 hours. And much to Gavin's excitement, the train had coffee on board. To be fair, he'd just been on a 7 hour flight and had been up for almost a day straight. Before Nines, he often went a few days without sleep (regardless of how much Tina bullied him about it) and then crashed for 12 hours when he got too tired. Cases just kept coming in and without a personal life there was no reason not to work- it was probably the reason he got so good and eventually got Detective.

\---

"Fucking hell it's cold."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Gavin. I am at a moderate temperature of 98.6* Fahrenheit which is 37* Celsius. You are slightly below this."

"No, like the air's cold."

"There are wind speeds of 25mph, yes."

"Bet you can't feel that either though."

"Correct. I am also suited to operate in extreme temperatures, so you don't have to worry about me shutting down in front of you."

"Didn't stop you a few months back."

"That was a special occasion. It worked anyway."

"Yeah by almost giving me a bloody heart attack!"

"Aww, you almost joined me in a hospital bed. That would've been cute!"

Gavin wasn't wrong about the weather. The wind was blowing and some light rain had fallen, leaving the air with a moist feel. It was kind of refreshing and helped Gavin stay awake (after 7 coffees he'd gotten immune to their effects, he was on his 12th cup). The boys had stood outside the station for a few minutes whilst waiting for their train because Nines had booked for an hour after they were due to arrive off their flight. He was meticulous in his planning, allowing just enough time to stretch their legs before they were trapped in a seat again. Gavin huddled up next to Nines, who must've raised his body temperature as he was warmer than usual. It was selfishly one of Gavin’s favourite perks of having an android boyfriend, one that he thought Cyberlife should’ve exploited more- hell, even he might’ve considered liking androids long before Nines came along.

\---

Gavin fell asleep on the train. They were sat in a booth, with 2 seats each, the spare ones holding the bags that contained their clothes for the next two weeks. Rain rippled against the window of the train, and added to the steady click-clack of the train and the muffled voices of other passengers, it made a nice sound. Calming. Grounding.

Nines decided he liked this sound. He liked looking at his boyfriend who had his arms folded on the table and his head rested on top. He liked the sense of adventure, of time to do anything, of humanity. And he resolved to keep this moment in his memory for as long as he could.

So when Gavin’s phone vibrated and showed that 'No 1 Bitch' (Tina) was calling, Nines declined the call. He was sure she’d understand; Nines often found his calls being declined when Tina and Gavin were out- ‘ _she forced me outside, I’m sorry_ ’.

The phone rang again, and Nines repeated his actions. Curiosity about what it was nagged at him though, so on the third call, he let Gavin be woken up by the buzzing of his phone, which he wearily answered on the final ring.

“Yo Ti-”

“Oh my god Gavin you’re there. Where are you?”

“I’m (yawn) I’m on the train, T.”

“Okay, okay, good. Just check the news in a minute, yeah?”

“Sure.. why are you so scared?”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

“So you can’t just tell m-”

The call ended abruptly.

“Damned British phone signal.” Gavin raised his eyes to meet Nines’. His LED was spinning yellow, which wasn’t an unfamiliar sight to Gavin, but it worried him nonetheless.

“Nines?”

“Are you going to check the news?.”

"Yeah yeah, give me a fucking minute. I've only just woken up."

He pulled up the app on his phone and cursed again.

"Still no bloody signal, I'll check later."

"Are you sure you don't want to ask anyone else before that? Tina sounded pretty worried."

“Nah. We’ll be fine. And I’ve got you to look out for me, right?”

“Always.” They both smiled as their hands intertwined, Nines’ skin pulling back to reveal the white chassis beneath. Despite seeing it regularly, Gavin was always intrigued, as is human nature, when it happened. Or maybe it was pigeon nature? 

Nines' LED stayed on yellow as Gavin fell back to sleep, with arrival time being an estimated 3 hours away.

\---

The garden was peaceful. Birds chirped in their usual pattern as a light breeze rustled the leaves of the willow tree in the distance. Nines knew this place well- he'd built it, after all- and today it was calming.

Nines needed calming down today. Before the phone call, he was happy, content. Now his circuits had gone into overdrive trying to figure something out with a complete lack of evidence and no leads. Work was supposed to have finished, but a switch had been switched and suddenly he was back in Detective mode. So he was here to relax and turn off said Detective mode. They'd agreed to speak very little about work when they were away, and Nines felt guilty being the one thinking about it when he knew Gavin found it harder to switch off.

He wandered over to the pond and focused on the fish swimming around. Their colours glistened as the sun streamed down from the sky. It made a nice contrast to the outside world: it was gloomy, raining and- as Gavin told him- cold. Not that they couldn't be happy in that weather, it just made it more of an effort. Nines was determined to make that effort. It was the least he could do; Gavin had provided him with so much joy over the past year. He tried to show his affection when they were at work but didn't want to annoy co-workers; Tina seemed to love whistling at them from across the bullpen when she noticed them doing anything remotely abnormal.

Meditating was something Nines had taken up within the past year. However, he knew that Gavin would just laugh if he came home to find the Terminator sitting in the middle of their apartment, so he chose to do it in his zen garden. So he made his way over to the area beside a flower patch, which was duly furnished with a red and white checked blanket. Sitting down into a cross-legged position, he tried to focus on the hum of his thirium, the rise and fall of his body as he imitated breathing, the way the wind seemed to whistle through the leaves.

Peace.

Nines spent about 10 minutes in this position, only to be awoken out of stasis by none other than Gavin.

"Nines! Nines can you hear me?"

"Yes, yes Gavin, I'm here."

"Good! I've been trying to get you to wake up for the past 3 minutes!"

"My apologies."

Nines looked around to find that the train had stopped at a station, and that passengers had filed off onto the platform. Gavin was gesturing for him to grab his suitcase.

"We're leaving?"

"Train line's broken up ahead. We gotta take a bus."

"Oh. Okay."

He picked up his bag, seemingly light as a feather, and followed Gavin.

He failed to notice the eyes following him as he stepped off the train and collapsed onto a bench next to his partner. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Damned British phone signal" yeah i felt that gavin

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i'm hopefully gonna add to this if i don't procrastinate but i suck at writing plot so we'll see how that goes haha
> 
> and shoutout to octopunk media for the amazing detroit evolution!!


End file.
